Grey Sky Morning
by Cheloya
Summary: OLD. YV. AU. When a demon begins to terrorise the village of Wutai, the frightened townsfolk try to appease it the old fashioned way. Yuffie is sacrificed to Chaos and taken to its lair. Can she survive the demon?
1. The Nightmare's Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own the song "Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)", nor do I own anything you've seen in _Final Fantasy VII_.

Summary: When a demon begins to terrorise the village of Wutai, the frightened townsfolk decide to appease it the old fashioned way. Yuffie is sacrificed to Chaos and taken back to its lair. Can she survive the demon? AU. Yuffentine.

A/N: Thought of this a couple of weeks ago, wrote it in two. Didn't have the time to type it all up until now, but now it's here and you can read it all and... yeah. *grin* Forgive my rambling, I'm very proud of this fic. Complete and total AU... just pretend that most of FFVII never happened.

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GREY SKY MORNING

Part I - The Nightmare's Beginning

The panic had already begun, spreading through the village like fire in a Mako refinery. The whole village milled before the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods as though the all-too-human five within could save them from the wrath of the demon.

The attacks had begun weeks ago with no rhyme or reason to the selection of victims. As random and unpredictable as its name*, Chaos took its toll on the town, sometimes destroying houses, sometimes swooping to catch up a screaming villager in its claws. As the bystanders watched, it would rip the unfortunate to shreds and discard the remains with bloodcurdling roars of triumph. Eight new graves stood by the great bell, their stone stares accusing.

The villagers had had enough, and now they turned to their leader and protectors. It was midday and the demon would surely attack soon. "Lord Godo," they cried. "Lord Godo!"

Yuffie didn't know why they bothered. Her father was just one man, and not an exceptional one at that. There was absolutely nothing he could do against the demon. Yuffie watched from the back of the crowd as the villagers fell silent. The doors to the temple were opening.

The Five Mighty Gods stood in a row on the steps leading into the pagoda. Yuffie named them in her head: Gorky, Staniv, Godo, Chekhov, Shake. Godo cleared his throat impressively. Yuffie rolled her eyes and resisted the urge to make snide comments throughout the speech that was undoubtedly coming.

"People of Wutai!" He addressed them. "We, the Five Mighty Gods, have a plan that may save us all!" The audience was silent, listening with rapture born of terror. Yuffie stifled a giggle - to say one thing for Godo, he sure knew how to work an audience.

"Legends tell us of monsters slain by heroes. Sadly, Wutai has none. We have no magical blades, no legendary rings." Godo looked grave. His speech was slow and halting, as though he was reluctant to finish. Yuffie raised both her eyebrows - what the hell was the old coot on about? "Legends also tell us, however, of monsters appeased by sacrifice, the sacrifice of a beautiful maiden or a newborn child..."

Yuffie saw several mothers clutch their children nervously.

"...Or in this case..." Godo's voice was strained. "...a princess."

Yuffie's eyes widened to a point where it would have been comical under different circumstances. _A princess?!_ Godo's eyes were firmly fixed on her. The villagers had begun to look toward her. Yuffie felt a shriek rising behind the lump in her throat.

"**_WHAT?!_**"

The outraged screech echoed around the square. Yuffie couldn't have cared less. "No way, old man! I did _not_ agree to this!"

Godo's face tightened and became colder. "It is for the good of Wutai, Yuffie..."

"What about the good of Yuffie?! Or the Kisaragi line, huh? I'm your only heir, old man!"

Godo's shoulders slumped slightly. "I'm afraid I have... no choice..." He turned to Chekhov and Staniv, locking eyes with the female warrior. He raised a resigned hand toward Yuffie and dropped it. Chekhov nodded stiffly in unison with the other Mighty Gods. They ran towards the outraged Yuffie, who had drawn her Conformer. The shuriken gleamed in her hands as her eyes darted around the faces of the villagers closing in on her.

__

Oh gawds... there's no way I can win this! They've got me totally boxed in, and I can't just cut my way through the villagers... In her indecision, she left herself open to attack. Someone grabbed her from behind and lifted her off her feet. Yuffie screamed and thrashed, sweeping her shuriken wildly through the air.

"Hey! Hey, let me go! You can't do this to me!" She felt a sudden pain in her arm, then nothing. The Conformer clattered to the ground along with all her materia. Yuffie wailed. "Wait! This isn't fair! I have rights, dammit! I DON'T WANNA BE A SACRIFICE!"

There was a sharp blow to her neck and Yuffie slumped, unconscious. In the blossoming silence there sounded a roar. Chaos was coming.

*

When Yuffie came to, her wrists were sore and her head ached abominably. Her first thought was _Uuurgh... which one of you crummy bastards gave me sake...?_

As her brain kicked into action at the sound of a roar, her second thought was _Omigawds, I'm gonna die!_ Her eyes snapped open. She was bound under the red archway that led to the main square of the village, her wrists caught in two thick leather thongs. She flexed her legs and stood properly, wincing as pins and needles burned in her fingers. Grey eyes wide, she looked around, slightly panicked.

__

Right out in the open... I'm a goner! She tugged anxiously at her bonds, tears of panic and terror stinging her eyes. _Oh man... oh gawds... Da Chao help me, I'm really @#$%ed this time!_

Villagers peered out from the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods. Yuffie eyed them frantically. "Help me!" She begged, hating how her voice echoed. _Chaos will hear me._ The next roar was so close. The townsfolk shrank inside, locking the doors. Yuffie, despairing though she was, couldn't let them go that easily.

"You bastards! I'm gonna come back and haunt you all! I hope all your houses fall down. I hope Leviathan floods the whole town. I HOPE CHAOS EATS YOU WITH WASABI SAUCE!!" She slumped, tears running down her cheeks. "How can you do this to me?" She whispered miserably, swinging forward on her ropes.

One creaked a little. Yuffie blinked and swung backwards. It creaked again. Adrenaline flooding her system with new hope, she wriggled frantically, swinging backwards and forwards when she tried to break the rope. Chaos roared; it was at the edge of the village. Yuffie could hear its slow wing beats. She threw herself back and forth, pulling at the ropes with all her might. Her wrists felt as though they might break before her ropes did.

"Come on, come on, come on.... please... break... _please_... break..." Yuffie urged the leather, staring at the sky, then to the Pagoda. She could see people peering at her through the cracks in the shutters, mouths open in the twisted fascination that allows a human to watch a spider die from insect spray.

The leather creaked once more, then snapped. Yuffie slammed into the other pole. Dazedly, she blinked, then began to scrabble frantically at the knot that held her other wrist. It was too high for her to see what she was doing, especially with the sun in her eyes like this, but a worried glance to the west told her what she had feared; Chaos had spotted her.

The demon roared and went into a stoop. Yuffie let out a strangled cry of fear and fought the leather that held her wrist all the harder. Her left hand fumbled with the knot as Chaos swept pas her and landed heavily with another loud roar. _I wish I weren't right-handed!_ She thought, mind flooded with fear. She tugged at the knot, terrified.

Hot breath on her neck. Yuffie nearly swallowed her tongue. Trembling, left hand still pulling at the rope, she turned ever so slightly to find Chaos looming over her. Yuffie whimpered, clutching her hands to her shoulder. It took her several moments to realise she was free.

Chaos raised a massive purple arm and swiped at her with a snarl. Yuffie screamed and threw herself out of the way. One pillar of the lucky red arch splintered, showering Yuffie with chunks of wood. Chaos roared in fury and flapped its great wings, whipping the air around them into a miniature tornado that tore at Yuffie, robbing her of balance as she tried to regain her feet and flee. She moaned in terror as Chaos towered over her. _Help me, help me, someone please help me..._ She tried to run.

Chaos leapt into the air with a wild snarling as Yuffie pelted across the cobblestones. Her eyes were fixed upon the doorway into her father's pagoda; salvation. Even if Chaos tore the house down, she could hide in the secret tunnel. She had nearly made it to the stairs when the demon ploughed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground. Yuffie was crushed beneath the demon for several moments before it seized her and lifted her from the ground. Yuffie screamed long and loud, squeezing her eyes shut as she waited for the final blow...

...which didn't come. Yuffie was still dangling - her arm hurt from where Chaos' claws dug into it. _Maybe it doesn't know where to slice first?_ She wondered giddily. The great wings were beating, the wind from them whistling past her. It was cold. Gingerly, Yuffie opened her eyes.

She goggled as the ground swept past beneath her, tiny trees and the ribbon of river that wrapped Wutai securely. Yuffie stopped breathing as her stomach turned over. No longer caring about being eaten, Yuffie started wailing loudly. "_Omigawds-if-you-don't-put-me-down-RIGHT-NOW-I'm-gonna-blow-chunks-all-over-you!!!_"

Chaos rumbled something unintelligible. It sounded annoyed.

"I'm totally serious! You're be a purple half-digested pizza and sushi monster then! Aaaaaaiiiii_uuuurgh_, I'm gonna be SICK!" Yuffie clapped her free hand over her mouth as Chaos lifted her up to its face. _I don't want to throw up,_ she thought adamantly as Chaos looked her in the eye. Its eyes glittered a dangerous blood red. Yuffie gulped as it bared its teeth in what she might have recognised as a wicked grin if she hadn't been shaking so hard... and screamed as it let go of her.

Her nausea was forgotten immediately as she plummeted toward the trees and the sharp rocks of Da Chao. _I'm dead,_ she thought, still screaming at the top of her lungs. She felt a painful jerk as claws grabbed her once again. Several moments later there was cool air on her skin and she was dumped unceremoniously onto cold stone.

Yuffie stared at the ground beneath her shaking hands and fainted dead away. Chaos snorted, threw the jumble of limbs into a corner and settled down to wait. Prey was no fun when it wasn't screaming.

*

Someone was sponging her forehead with a cool cloth. Relieved that it had all been a horrible nightmare and vowing never again to eat sushi together with pizza, Yuffie opened her eyes and let out a cry of dismay. This wasn't her room; it wasn't even Wutai.

"You're awake. How do you feel?" The voice was deep and soft. It would have been pleasant to listen to but for its hollow nature. Yuffie's eyes shifted from the stalactites to the speaker and she let out a soft gasp. The concerned eyes were the same demon red as Chaos' had been. His hair, though messy, was long and shone like black satin. A scarlet bandanna tried and failed to keep it from his face. He waited for her to say something, thin face pale even in the dim light. Yuffie recalled his question and considered.

"My arm is really sore. So are my wrists. My knees are grazed a bit, I think. My head hurts. I feel sick." She listed her grievances for him, sounding like a two-year-old and not caring. Who knew? Maybe she could still get a designer band-aid and a lollipop out of this.

"Your hands are grazed, too." The man informed her, re-soaking the cloth in a small bowl and dabbing at her temple. As Yuffie watched it go away tinged with blood, she wished and doubted that the indifferent stranger kept her kind of lollipop. "Where does your arm hurt?"

"Uh. All over. Mostly near my shoulder, though. It's sort of a numb ache..." She yelped, fire exploding in her arm as he moved it. "_Don'ttouchit!_" He frowned, gently probing her shoulder with his fingers. Yuffie bit her lip.

"I think it might be dislocated." He said offhandly. Yuffie made a 'why me?' sort of noise. "I'm going to put it back in. It might hurt a bit. Bite this and keep your arm completely relaxed. On the count of three, I want you to tense your arm." His hand held the stick in front of her lips. Yuffie opened her mouth nervously and held it with her teeth.

"Ready?"

"Mmogh1."

"Good. One..."

"_Glrrrrgh!_" Yuffie's cry of pain was muffled by the stick, but it still echoed through the cave. The stranger had yanked viciously on her arm, twisting it and making her scream. A dull 'pop' echoed in her skull and the dull ache of stretched muscles became noticeable once more as the screaming agony subsided.

"Say 'ah'."

"Gho dh Heghl! 2" Yuffie spat. Her teeth were clenched so tightly, she'd be surprised if the stick wasn't paper. The man tugged at it insistently. Eventually he prised open her jaws to retrieve the stick, which went away with a near-perfect mould of Yuffie's teeth.

"Is that any better?" The man asked. Yuffie gasped and glared at him.

"Yeah, it's fantastic. Now I can feel all the pain properly." She growled, vaguely recognising that she was being ungrateful. "Where am I? And, uh..." She sat up slowly and glanced around. "Where's Chaos?"

The scarlet-cloaked man stiffened as he picked up the cloth that had fallen from her forehead. She noticed he kept his left arm hidden in the folds of his cloak. As he straightened again, he spoke softly. "The demon has withdrawn, for now." His red eyes were far away.

"Withdrawn? Did you chase it off?" Yuffie gaped at him. "Wow. You're _cool_." The man looked sadly at the ground. "I'm serious - you're way cool. You saved me!" She giggled quietly and flexed her arm gingerly. "You oughta come back to Wutai with me. My dad will give you a huge reward."

Then she remembered the ease with which Godo had sent her off to rob travellers of their materia, had sacrificed her to a demon. Sadness seeped into her grey eyes. "On second thoughts, he might be mad you brought me back..." She murmured. Her head dropped briefly into her hands, causing the man to look away uncomfortably. Yuffie sighed. She had never really gotten on with Godo. She bet he was celebrating now. After all, he thought he had got rid of his two biggest problems in the one day. Her jaw clenched. _Well, if he can celebrate about this, then I can, too_. Yuffie stood up quickly, resolutely ignoring the pain in her legs. Chaos must have thrown her around a bit. She couldn't remember properly. Striding over to the man, she held out her hand.

"I'm Yuffie Kisaragi. I _was_ princess of Wutai, but some moron had the brilliant idea of using me as a sacrifice to Chaos. Now I guess I'm just some ninja who's lost her shuriken..." Her eyes flickered as she recalled the pathetic and oddly final sound the weapon had made as it fell to the cobbles.

"I am Vincent Valentine." His tone was cool and detached. Yuffie's hand was ignored. Not to be outdone, she kept it there, willing him to acknowledge it.

"Pleased to meet you, Vincent." She responded brightly, hand still outstretched. Vincent seemed to realise something was expected of him. Instead of shaking her hand as she had expected, however, he kept his left hidden still and grasped hers with his right, bending to brush the back of it with a kiss.

"The pleasure is all mine." He reciprocated politely. Yuffie struggled briefly with the urge to giggle. Instead she grinned widely and let her hand fall to her side. Vincent stared at her blandly until, uncomfortable, she looked away.

"So, uh... where is this place? What time is it? Do you know how long it'll be until Chaos comes back?" Yuffie glanced around warily at the bone-strewn cave. One encounter with the demon was plenty for her.

Vincent glanced at her sharply. "We are in a cave on the opposite side of Da Chao from Wutai. It is, perhaps, very early morning or simply late at night. The demon will return whenever it feels like it." He caught her stormy eyes with his intense ruby ones.

Yuffie shrank from the concentration of his gaze. "Where do I go? I don't want to go back to my village... my people already hated me. Chaos would attack it anyway, and they'd think it was all _my_ fault." She whispered. "I don't want to stay here with Chaos!"

Vincent's eyes flared dangerously. "Stop saying its name!" He hissed, voice gruffer than it had been just moments ago. He had broken out in a sweat, moving back with a staggering motion. Yuffie cringed back from him, afraid of the strange luminescence in his eyes. Vincent's hands rose to shield his face protectively and Yuffie let out a strangled cry of horror. The hand he had kept hidden was no hand at all, but a monstrous collaboration of bronze and Leviathan knew what else. Where his right hand was covered with a fingerless black glove that bared the digits of a pianist, his left was a whole other story. Normality ended at the elbow. She might have thought it a gauntlet had not the metal twisted itself under the flesh visible before his sleeve. She gazed in fascination and horror. There was a curving cuff just before his elbow. A smooth bronze cylinder made up most of forearm, running from the cuff to where a crude wrist had been shaped with several more sophisticated, overlapping cuffs. The bronze that gloved his hand ended at the knuckles, where five great, glaive-like claws extended at odd angles. She could see the bronze screws that held the claw-arm together and her stomach turned, revolted, as she imagined them being gruesomely drilled through flesh and into bone. She made a dry retching sound, covering her mouth with both hands. Vincent, looking shamed by both the claw and his lapse in control, hid it from view.

"I am sorry." He said softly, dully, eyes downcast. "I did not mean to frighten you."

"What is that thing? What happened to your arm?" Yuffie screeched. Vincent's eyes were whirling scarlet pools that became black holes and sucked all warmth from the cave.

"Please... the demon will return soon. You must hide." He told her, neatly evading the question. "If you do not return to Wutai-"

Despite her shock at the claw, Yuffie railed at this. "There's no _way_ I'm going back there." She returned matter-of-factly.

"You must." There was sweat forming on Vincent's brow again, a barely perceptible note of desperation entering his frozen voice. "The demon-"

"I _know_ it's coming back soon, Vinnie." Yuffie said snidely. "I'd never make it to Wutai if the demon is so close." She wandered to the back of the cavern, where three smaller openings were situated. Calmly, she peered inside the middle one.

"It is closer than you know..." Vincent murmured to himself. Yuffie ignored him, grabbing a chunk of rock and, after a short hesitation, a thick, strong-looking bone. She didn't want to go crawling into any enclosed spaces without some kind of weapon. She got down on her stomach in preparation to squeeze through the tight space.

"Wait." Vincent's voice was almost hopeful. Yuffie looked back over her shoulder, impatient.

"You gonna rant on about the demon, or are you gonna say something intelligent?" She asked caustically.

"The left tunnel. There are items there you may find of use. I have hidden them where the demon cannot reach. If you wish, you may hide there." Vincent replied tonelessly. Yuffie grinned.

"Aw, thanks a bunch, Vinnie." She shifted over to the left-most tunnel. "You gonna come through after me?"

"My priority is your safety. I will remain here." At her look of disagreement, he added, "I will be safe."

"O-okay, Vinnie. I'll see ya." Yuffie said, secretly wondering whether she would. Where in Leviathan's name did he expect to hide if not where he'd just told her to? _Maybe this place he has his stuff isn't very big._ She thought as she wriggled into the larger opening of the left tunnel. Another thought struck her as she struck her head painfully on the uneven ceiling. _Maybe he's got materia stashed here, too. Heh heh heh, sucker!_ She crawled faster. _Chaos is my meat. With a weapon and some materia, I'll have Wutai grovelling before me..._ Her pleased snickers preceded her. "Nyuk-nyuk-nyuk..."

*

Vincent slumped against the cool wall of the cave, breath whistling painfully in and out of his lungs.

STOP FIGHTING, HUMAN.

The voice was thick and dark, scented heavily with evil and death straight from the pit itself. It did not echo in his skull, rather it was absorbed, flat and tinny like a cello on a recording. Vincent stifled the revulsion that threatened to make him pass out. _Never, demon!_

YOU ARE WEAK. YOU CANNOT HOLD FOREVER.

Chaos' tone was sneering and triumphant. Its consciousness butted at Vincent's like a steel battering ram at rotted wood. With the demon's barb came a flooding of Vincent's system with the white-hot blood-lust, the thirst to kill. Almost the demon's howl of longing escaped, but Vincent nearly bit through his own lip to hold it back. _The girl, the girl will come back if she hears. She must not be a victim again. Not once, not again._

THE GIRL IS NOTHING. RELEASE ME!

Vincent collapsed to the floor of the cave, gasping with the fore of the monster's demand. The cave flickered alarmingly before his eyes. The demon's roar filtered through his own lips as he lost his hold on Chaos.

LET ME OUT, HUMAN!  
"NooooaraaaAAAAAAAARGH!"

*

Yuffie looked back the way she had come as an earth-shattering roar filtered through the rock. She grasped her bone club more tightly as she huddled on the pile of blankets that was probably Vincent's bed. Nervously, she glanced around the cavern.

"I hope Vinnie found a safe place to hide." She said, wincing at the hollow sound of her voice in the sparse 'room'. Yuffie wrapped a blanket around her shoulders to ward off the chill of the cave. It was too long for her no matter how she arranged it, so she hobbled over to Vincent's meagre store of items, tripping and nearly falling several times. Examining it, she found there was almost nothing there to eat. Yuffie sighed and nibbled a Mimett Green morosely. She looked at the Hi-Potions consideringly, but decided rather sagely that there was nothing wrong with her that sleep wouldn't fix. She made a face as she swallowed the last of the Green. Besides, she didn't want to actually _owe_ Vincent anything.

Too sleepy to bother with searching for materia, Yuffie crawled back over to the 'bed'. She scrabbled with the blankets, trying to make the makeshift futon less lumpy. Finally she gave up and just cocooned herself in all the blankets she could. She wished it were warmer - Wutai never got this cold, not even in the depths of winter. All the blankets there could not have warded off the chill successfully. She shivered and closed her eyes tightly as another roar reverberated through the cavern. The strange, faint green glow that pulsed along cracks in the walls made the world blackish pink through her eyelids. Yuffie hoped once more that Vincent had found a safe place to hide before she drifted off to sleep.

---((~~((~~(*)~~))~~))---

A/N: I have a Foolish question... why do we have the height of Summer and yet the depths of Winter? *ponders* Intriguing... a strange tongue is the English language. ^^ Anyway, I hope you're enjoying the first part of this fic. It's a pretty shameless excuse for a Yuffentine, but I do hope you'll recognise and covet the small shreds of plot I will toss out among you along the way.

Please review! You'll get extra plot! Or extra fluff, depending on your preference. *grin* Hugs go to Wyrren, who is a Fabulous and Wondrous beta reader who actually understands quite a lot of the drivel that spills from my lips on a daily basis. Er... wow, long Author's Note. Ought to leave you all to your scattered sanity, now. Ja!


	2. How I Got This Way

Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is most definitely not mine, and neither are its characters. I do, however, own Yuffie shorts. Rather bizarre piece of information, but nonetheless true. *shrug*

A/N: *blink* All I have to say for this chapter is that the bits with Godo in just... appeared. OO;; They weren't there to begin with, but they are now, so... I hope they're okay. I never really liked Godo all that much, bar his conversation with Yuffie after the sub-quest in Wutai. *amused* Like father like daughter, I suppose.

Apologies for the crappy layout of the first uploading of Part I… I tried to just upload a Word '.doc' and… well, you saw what happened. Let this be a lesson to all ye who try to upload documents! XD

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GREY SKY MORNING

Part II: How I Got This Way

"My Lord?" Chekhov lay a sympathetic hand on Godo's shoulder. She knew what it felt like to lose children. Both of hers had died in the Great War, fighting for Wutai's freedom. _All for nothing_, Chekhov thought. The anger and bitterness had faded long ago, leaving nothing but vague indifference. She supposed that callousness came in handy in battle, but when she wasn't fighting it made her feel cut out from the world that the rest of Wutai lived in, the world of feeling and vehemence and... Chekhov sighed. It was not for her to decide what she had. That was for Da Chao to know.

Chekhov stepped around in front of Godo, kneeling and bowing her head slightly to show respect for the man. He was the ruler of Wutai after all. "My Lord, are you well?" It was a stupid question, but one that had to be asked, simply because she could think of nothing else to say. She knew that when her son and daughter had died that was the only thing she had heard. That was what she had hated - the apparent disinterest of everyone around her when she had lost what she had been fighting for. But now, trying to offer shreds of comfort to a man who had lost not only his daughter but the future of his line, she discovered that there was very little else that could be said.

"No." Godo replied hollowly. His eyes were dull as he looked up at her. Weariness was plain in his eyes. "No." He repeated. "I am not." Chekhov would have been offended at his tone had she not understood what he was going through. She smiled, bowing her head slightly and remembering her children. _Takao... Yukiko..._

"It goes away, my Lord." She assured him softly. "It does go away."

Godo looked at her sharply, steel grey eyes hardening. "I don't want it to go away. I want to remember this. I want to remember what an absolute fool I was. I want to remember how _weak_ I am, to let Staniv and Gorky talk me into such a thing." His teeth clenched, veins in his neck sticking out like cords as he sheathed the blade of his anger once more. Chekhov patted his knee comfortingly, and Godo sighed out a pent-up breath. He patted her hand and squeezed it slightly. "My apologies, Chekhov. Thankyou for your concern."

Chekhov withdrew her hand. "You are welcome, my Lord."

"I just..." Godo let out a harsh bark of laughter. "She was my daughter. My only daughter. And I let her go to a demon because I was too afraid to lose my position were we to fight and lose again, as we did during the Great War."

Chekhov opened her mouth to respond, but she was interrupted by a roar. Her head snapped toward the sound in shock. She was on her feet in an instant, running for the doorway. Surely the demon could not have returned!

Godo just looked at the ceiling and smiled bitterly. So he had lost this time, too.

*

When Yuffie awoke, Vincent was nowhere to be seen. She crammed another Mimett Green into her mouth and peered at the opening of the passageway. She couldn't hear Chaos any more. Maybe it was gone. She chewed her Green and swallowed, making a face as part of the so-called food stuck in her throat.

"Vinnie?" She queried loudly. No answer. Nothing that sounded like Chaos was around, either. Picking up her bone club, Yuffie listened at the crawlspace. Nothing. "Vincent Valentine?"

Knowing she was probably going to wind up in trouble, Yuffie started bellying along the tunnel. It was harder coming back this way, especially since her arm seemed to have realised just how sore it really was. The tunnel sloped upward a little more and Yuffie saw light. She paused and waited for her eyes to adjust; she didn't want sunspots clouding her vision if Chaos was lurking in the main cavern. Listening carefully, Yuffie pulled herself along the last few feet of tunnel and examined what she could see of the cave. There was nothing that she could detect, but with her own breath ricocheting off the jagged walls of the crawlspace that wasn't surprising. She pulled back a little way.

"Vinnie? Hey you, Vincent!"

Nothing moved at all. Yuffie was getting tired of waiting. Swiftly, she slithered forward and out of the tunnel, bringing her bone club up as though it were no more than her 'sword' in kendo training. She swung it in a wide circle, just in case, and felt rather stupid when absolutely nothing stepped out to greet her. Vincent wasn't here either.

Yuffie walked further out into the cave, moving toward the silvery light of what she assumed was a full moon. _This cave sure winds a lot... it's a wonder the light makes it this far inside._ She turned the corner, club held ready to bash Chaos' brains in, and let out a gasp. Even in moonlight, she could see what lay before her, and it shocked her. Vincent lay in the centre of the cavern, his clothes even more tattered in the depth of the shadows. His face was pale, even if she discounted the silvery luminescence lent to it by the moon, the exposed shreds of his muscled chest even paler. "Vinnie!" Yuffie took a cursory glance around for Chaos and scuttled over to the man's side.

Nothing seemed to be wrong with him, but he slept as though he were dead. Seized with a sudden fear, Yuffie dropped her bone with a loud clatter and dropped onto all fours beside him. One hand reached for his neck to feel his pulse, trembling slightly.

His expression did not so much as flicker but Yuffie let out a squeak as his human hand latched onto her wrist faster than her eyes could follow in the darkness. His eyes remained closed. Yuffie made sure that she was as far away from his less human appendage before she grappled with the vice-like grip on her arm. _Holy Da Chao! Talk about reflexes..._ She leaned over him again, this time touching his shoulder. _Gawds, is he even breathing?_ She couldn't tell. If he was, then it was very shallow, or else more gradual than grass' growth. "Vincent?" Yuffie brought her face down to see if she could hear his breath. "Come on, Vincent."

__

"Vincent."

"Vincent. Hey, come on Vinnie, wake up."

__

"Vincent, are you awake?"

"Come on, Vinnie. Rise and shine!"

__

"Vincent, love, wake up. You don't have to stand guard all night. That's what we have the other Turks for, remember?"

"Omigawds, Vinnie, the demon is coming!"

__

"You had best leave, Vincent. Hojo is coming."

"Graaaaaah, it's coming to get you, Vinnie! Better wake up soon!"

__

"Hojo will get you if you don't stop pursuing this, Mr Valentine. He has the power."

"Come on, Vinnie. I'm not gonna hang around all night, ya know."

__

"I don't want this any more. I'm not going to listen to your unproven delusions. Goodbye, Mr Valentine."

Ruby red eyes cracked open. "...Lucrecia, don't... what?" She was there, leaning over him, smiling encouragingly at him s_neering at him as though he were no more than a child who had told her one too many times of the monster in his closet_ and resting a hand on his shoulder. He felt its weight.

"Heya! Welcome back to the land of the living, Vinnie." Yuffie said with a grin, leaping back to her feet. Vincent stared at her in incomprehension.

__

Lucrecia... she was here... Perhaps not. Perhaps it was nothing more than a dream. Only this girl. Wishful thinking. And now... the nightmare returns. Oh, how Vincent wished that this life was nothing but a nightmare. But the dream was only the beginning of the hell...

"Are you okay, Vincent? You seem a little..." Yuffie wasn't sure how to finish that sentence, so she changed the subject. "Who's Lucrecia?"

Vincent's attention followed the name, latching onto Yuffie. He cursed himself for saying it aloud. "She is none of your concern." He sat up, face expressionless as he masked all the guilt and grief.

"She, huh? Does Vinnie have a _girlfriend?_" Yuffie teased. Vincent shot her a death glare which caused Inner Yuffie to spontaneously combust and Outer Yuffie to smirk. She folded her hands in her lap. "Seriously, Vincent, I'll just pester you until you tell me. You might as well get one back and spoil my fun by telling me now."  
"It is none of your concern." Vincent repeated. His tone was clipped and icy. "In any case, it is too dangerous. The demon-"

"Oh come _on_, Vinnie." Yuffie snorted impatiently. "You already used that one, remember? You still owe me an explanation of that cool gauntlet thing that grafted onto your arm."

Vincent stared at Yuffie. 'Cool' was the last word he expected when it came to the description of his claw. 'Monstrous' or 'hideous', yes; 'cool', no. He felt a strange rush of something that must have been gratitude - he could attribute her original disgust to nothing more than shock. He squashed the emotion as though it were no more than an irritating bug.

"Well? Are you gonna tell me? Or do I have to beat it out of you?" Yuffie spun her bone expertly. Vincent shook his head minutely, rocking backwards before shooting to his feet. Yuffie, with a variation of the Wutaian get-up Vincent had just used, leapt up and trailed after him.

"Come on Vincent. Tell me!" She pestered. "Tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, tell me, te--"

"Would you kindly be quiet?" Vincent snapped. He threw his claw out to the side as he turned around and made a mocking bow, though obviously he was angry. "If you'll follow me." The syllables were crisp and cold.

Vincent led her to a crack in the wall of the cave. Tossing a careless glance back at her, he slipped through the narrow opening and sidled along it. His scarlet cape snagged on the rocks as he passed them. Yuffie has little trouble negotiating the crack. With her slim shoulders and narrow hips, she thought that the passage would have been just about wide enough for her to walk through. _Almost,_ she thought as she was forced to bend backward to make it past some inconveniently placed jags of rock.

At the end of the gap, there was a large, open chamber. Water trickled from stalactites to pool around strange stone formations on the floor. Yuffie let out a strangled cry and ran forward to dip her hands into the pool. It was a little warm, but she drank it anyway, thirsty for a long time without water. She turned around. Vincent sat comfortably next to the steaming end of the pool, legs crossed, hands on his knees. His air was so solemn that Yuffie was hesitant as she seated herself opposite him. She placed her bone club on the ground in front of her.

When she looked to Vincent again, his garnet eyes locked onto her own, holding them with a fierce glare. Yuffie hardly dared to breathe. "Lucrecia," he said simply. "Was my lover. That is as good a place as any to begin. She was a scientist, devoted to the Jenova project of the Shinra Science Department." Yuffie nodded. She knew the Shinra. "Jenova was an Ancient, of the remains of one, which Lucrecia and two other scientists, Gast and Hojo were studying. Gast was a scientific genius. Hojo was a scientific flop."

Yuffie almost giggled, but the hatred that branded that name stopped her. Something told her it would not be wise to giggle throughout this tale.

"I was a Turk - an elite soldier of the Shinra." Vincent nodded slightly as Yuffie's eyes went wide. "I was assigned to protect the experiments, which were being carried out in the Shinra Mansion in Nibelheim."  
"That's on the continent to the east of Wutai, right?" Yuffie hazarded.

"Yes."  
"Hmm... I've heard of that place. There was a rumour it got burned down, but there was nothin' on the news. It was weird." Yuffie mused. She shook her head slightly. "So? What happened?"

Vincent nearly winced at her innocent inquiry. "As more came to be known about Jenova, Lucrecia's infatuation with her work grew, as did that of Hojo." His voice was terse and cold as he suppressed his anger. "Lucrecia did not care for my love. She did not believe in it. She was a true scientist, as Hojo could never be. She married Hojo. She was to have his child, injected with Jenova cells." His jaw clenched as Yuffie listened, appalled. How could anyone do such a thing to someone who clearly loved them as much as Vincent had?

"All for the sake of the experiment, Lucrecia accepted the Jenova injections, the Mako infusion... all for the sake of science. She wanted to be recognised, like the genius Professor Gast. But the Jenova in her ate at her... gnawed at her... I had tried to convince her when I heard, but..."

"She wouldn't listen." Yuffie supplied, listening intently. Vincent nodded, garnet eyes clouding with grief.

"Lucrecia died giving birth to the child. She named it Sephiroth." His laugh was bitter, clipped. "Strange that she, who did not believe in love or religion, would choose such a name. I wasn't there when she died, but afterward... I went to Hojo. I was out of my mind with pain, knowing I could have stopped her. I could have done more to convince her to pull out of it... I argued with Hojo in the main lab, and he shot me in the neck, dragged me to his operating table. He hated what I had had with Lucrecia. He hated me for..." Vincent took a deep, calming breath and went on, speaking in a monotone. "While he worked on me, he spoke in feverish murmurs, rambling to himself. He was insane. He thought Jenova was alive, that it - 'she', he said - spoke to him. He told me of Lucrecia's death in detail, mentioning with loathing how she had called for me in her final hours. It was that which made him take my arm. I was left-handed, it was my gun arm, it was everything that represented my strength and the power I had over the weedy maggot." Bitterness had crept into Vincent's tone. "He destroyed me. He experimented with my body, my mind... he..."

The hesitation was as sudden as though Vincent had crashed into a wall. The flow of his story had hit a sudden curve, a dam. Yuffie could sense the pain in him. She was seized by an irrational urge to shake him until the dam broke and the flood roared free to pool at her feet. Tears stood in her eyes. "A-and...?"

Vincent shook his head. "That is all."

Yuffie nodded reluctantly. He had been about to tell her something more, something important. Something forbidden. "Okay Vincent." She didn't want to make him relive any more of that. She had crossed too many boundaries already, smashing his privacy into pieces, like a mirror. _Seven years bad luck._ Though she had never thought twice about such things prior to this, the regret and guilt that darkened the man's chi was tangible. Yuffie sat completely still, uncomfortable in the silence. Slowly Vincent's blazing eyes dulled. It was as though he released her from a spell as he looked away.

"Have you heard everything you wished to know?"

Yuffie looked down at the backs of her hands, ashamed. Vincent's voice was totally numb. Yuffie wondered if he had spoken like this before Lucrecia had torn out his heart and left the gaping hole to freeze over with pain and anguish. She ducked her head.

"Thankyou for telling me, Vincent. It makes you much easier to understand." She bowed to him, feeling as though she owed him something. To her great surprise, Vincent shifted so that he, too, sat on his knees, and returned her bow with perfect etiquette. Yuffie grinned sheepishly. _He could show me up any day. He has to be Wutaian. I can see it in his face, too._ As this occurred to her, Yuffie had a brainwave. "Hey, it's a couple hours past midnight, right?"

Vincent considered and nodded.

"So when do you think the demon is coming back?" Yuffie asked. Vincent's human hand was white as he clenched it.

"An hour. Perhaps two." _If I can hold it off for that long._ "You should return to where you hid before."

"Okay, I will... but first I'm gonna go grab some things from outside, okay?" At Vincent's look of refusal, she added, "I'll take my club. I'm good with it already. I'll talk to you again tomorrow night, when it's safe." She was already slipping through the crack in the cave wall, leaving Vincent alone.

The raven-haired man sighed. He didn't know why he had poured out the tale to the girl. He was sick of having it bottled up, he supposed. He shrugged it off. His thoughts lingered, as they almost always did nowadays, on his past. He said the name aloud again. "...Lucrecia..." It seeped away into the indifferent stone, without so much as an echo. With Yuffie's sudden departure, Vincent felt more alone than he had ever cared to feel before.

Deep in the frozen wasteland that was his soul, Hell stirred. Hell with wings and claws. It didn't speak, but Vincent knew its meaning. He was never alone. Not any more.

*

Yuffie's mind lingered on Vincent's story as she crept towards the entrance of the cave. If not for the silvery lining the moon lent every inconsistency in the floor, even she with a ninja's training would have fallen a dozen times by now. Eyes and ears straining for signs of Chaos, Yuffie's mind was filled with apprehension. Her only consolation was that the demon's eyes would at least alert her of its presence in the darkness.

She nearly let out a whoop of delight as she saw open starry sky. Checking herself just in time, Yuffie ran outside, struggling to hold in laughter. She couldn't believe she hadn't seen the sky in nearly two whole days. She spent ten completely unguarded seconds staring up at it with infantile wonder before she recalled herself and the potential danger she was in. Taking a quick look around, Yuffie grinned in relief as she found what she wanted - a small plant with distinctive foliage and a signature smell. She crouched to pull a handful of leaves off the plant, shoving them unceremoniously in a pocket of her work khaki shorts. She cast around for smooth rocks. _Vinnie had some bowls back there... at least one, anyway..._

Something caught her eye in the wan moonlight and she reversed her movements until she saw the telltale glitter again. Cautiously, she bent to pick it up, held it up to the sky and smiled. A hunting knife was silhouetted against the dark sky. _Perfect._ She found a large rock and a smaller one before she returned to the cave with her new weapon. It took her a while to find the crawlspace, even longer to push all her finds to where she had slept before.

Once back in the item room, Yuffie sat the large rock down beneath the wavering glow of a weird chunk of rock. She brought out the handful of leaves and dropped them onto the relatively smooth surface. With the slightly smaller rock, she began to grind the leaves.

__

Chaos might be back soon, but that doesn't mean I can't work on this in here. I'm safe in here. Vinnie is Wutaian... he'll understand this... I hope.

With this in mind, Yuffie finished grinding her leaves and went to search for the bowl Vincent had used when she had first arrived. _At least stupid, age-old customs are good for something._

*

Godo stared dully at his ceiling, listening to the silence that surrounded Wutai. Two more deaths had resulted from Chaos' latest rampage. He sighed heavily. He had made a fool of himself. Dishonoured his ancestors. Lost his daughter. The list went on with faults like weakness and cowardice. He listed them aimlessly to himself in a half-arsed attempt to break through the silence. "You're a fool and a weakling and a coward and a bad father and..."

And now he was talking to himself. Fantastic. Amaya would have been so proud. Godo snorted. The village expected his help, his protection, but what could he do? After his last attempt, he wasn't sure what would discourage the demon. He wasn't sure he could drive it away, if that could be done at all.

Before the Great War, he might have attacked, defended Wutai against all odds. He would have led his people against the demon, to the honour of his clan. Now that he had tasted bitter defeat and loss, he was no longer willing to try with the same whole-hearted bravery he had shown in the Great War. He was afraid.

A sardonic chuckled escaped Godo's constricting throat. How the mighty had fallen.

*

A/N: Well, that's the second part of this... ^^ Sorry about the short chapter length, guys. I just can't seem to write long chapters. Part I will have to appease you as far as chapter length goes. Please review, because I love to hear from people who wade through this stuff that I come up with at two in the morning... As always, big cuddles to Wyrren Sarrasri for beta reading, even though she's off gallivanting right now. Thank'ee, Packsister. ^^


	3. Learning Not To Love

Disclaimer: I don't own Vincent, Yuffie, Chaos or Wutai. Or anything else you may have seen first in FFVII. Obviously I don't own the tea ceremony, but I don't think I got it right anyway, so it doesn't really matter.

A/N: ^_^ Enjoy the mental eye-candy. *grin*

****

GREY SKY MORNING

Part III: Learning Not to Love

__

Learning not to love others leads to not loving oneself any longer.

~ Anonymous (found in a Baci ^.^)

Vincent was curious, despite himself, of what Yuffie had planned. Scant minutes after Chaos had finished its rampage, she had strode into the section of the cave he had told her his past in and demanded that he leave so she could have a bath. Yuffie the Apparently Shameless had been wearing nothing but one of the less picnic rug-like of the blankets he had stashed with his old items. Her extra clothes were bundled under one arm. Vincent had stubbornly kept his eyes trained on her face, schooling the blush from his face with the ease of long practice. He had been shooed from the cavern with the hot springs on orders not to go out to the main cavern, with another 'towel' for when it was his turn. Now, waiting patiently near the narrow gap that led to the springs, Vincent wondered when Yuffie would return from the main cavern to get him.

__

"Don't you come out until I come back and tell you I'm ready, okay, Vinnie?"

Vincent looked at his drying cape and shirt. They would be wet for an hour or so, yet. He was wearing only his black pants and boots, having bathed. His wet hair was tied back in a queue while it, too, dried.

Vincent looked up as Yuffie, properly dressed once more, walked back around the corner, hefting her club. Vincent breathed in and frowned as a scent he remembered came with her. He couldn't quite decide what it was. Yuffie caught sight of him, too, blinking several times before she spoke.

"Uh... you can come back out now." _Wooooow. Aaaabs. Aaaaarms._ Yuffie thought dazedly, trying not to goggle like a moron. _I wonder if he'll get really angry if I totally shred his cloak and shirt and stuff?_ Regaining some of her dignity, she gave Vincent a pointed look and he stood fluidly, the muscles in his stomach rippling as he moved. "Follow me, Vinnie."

Vincent wondered what on the Planet this was all about. He refrained from asking. It was not in his nature to ask questions that would surely be answered within a relatively short timeframe.

Yuffie walked a little faster, turning the corner so that she was out of his line of sight. When next he saw her, he stopped short in surprise. The cave had been laid out like a Wutaian tea room. Yuffie was kneeling on one of the blankets, her hands folded demurely in her lap, eyes downcast like a true Wutaian lady. Before her lay an empty bowl and a tin pot filled with what Vincent recognised as tea. That had been the spicy smell. He stood, uncertain for a moment, then knelt on the blanket obviously meant for him. Yuffie looked up at him through her lashes and Vincent felt an odd tingle of electricity in his stomach. They bowed.

Yuffie pushed herself forward on her knees and with much ceremony poured the tea into the earthenware bowl. Solemnly, she turned the bowl three times and handed it to Vincent. They bowed again. Steam curled from the small bowl and Vincent drank cautiously. Yuffie breathed a sigh of relief when it became apparent that the tea wasn't scalding, or tasted like crap. She hadn't messed up. Vincent's eyes, closed while he drank, opened again, catching hers. He turned the bowl three times and held it out for her. This time Yuffie wasn't so careful and their fingers brushed. As they bowed, Yuffie struggled to keep the blood from her cheeks.

__

What the?! She shrieked mentally as she drank, the spicy sweet tea having half the calming effect it usually had on her. _Why the hell am I going all girly over that? Gawds!_ She drained the bowl and replaced it, where it sat beside the empty pot. Yuffie, feeling better than she had since her 'sacrifice' (albiet still embarrassed), bowed once more to Vincent, who was watching her shrewdly. Yuffie smiled at him.

The old Wutaian ceremony had restored a ceertain measure of peace to Vincent's soul. Chaos no longer rent the edges of his consciousness. The soothing tea he had hated when he was a youth had even managed to calm the demon. Vincent watched the young girl before him, feeling a profound sense of gratitude for her act. Obviously she had recognised that he had been Wutaian and had known that the tea ceremony would calm his turmoil. He wonderd whether the normally proud and brattish teenager had thought of it that way, or whether it had been some deeper instinct guiding her. Either way, he owed her his thanks.

Yuffie spoke. "I thought I'd better apologise for prying... seing's I made you tell me so much, I figured it was only fair that I told you about myself, too."

Vincent opened his mouth to tell her it was unnecessary, but Yuffie had already begun.

"My mother was Lady Amaya. She married my father, Godo Kisaragi, the seventeenth descendant of the Kisaragi bloodline. They were a house of ninja... the Shinobi... I expect you've heard of them." Vincent nodded, vaguely surprised to hear that she was of that line. "When I was four, Mama died in the Great War, protecting the village. The Great General Sephiroth was the one who killed her. My Dad fell apart after that - all his real power withered away into nothing. For the last twelve years, Wutai has been nothing but a dinky tourist-trap, not the blood, oath and honour place it was before." Yuffie's hands were clenched on her knees. "All our ancestry was just trampelled by the Shinra when they took over. My father didn't like it, but he was too weak to stop them, and so were the Five Mighty Gods." She sounded incredibly bitter for one so young.

"Dad only trained me to be a ninja because it was what Mama wanted. He sent me off to other continents to steal materia off travellers. I was totally bent on restoring Wutai, but then the demon started kicking up dust. The tourism went to hell and Godo was just too damn pathetic to fight, just like last time. And just like last time, there had to be a sacrifice, only this time it was me."

Vincent was silent, apparently engrossed by her tale. Yuffie looked at him and noticed with disappointment that he did not look much happier. In fact, he did not look happy in te remotest sense of the word. She suppressed a sigh and looked down at her hands. _I guess I can't expect a miracle._..

"...Yuffie." Vincent's voice sounded strained. "Sephiroth... how old would you say...?"

"Um. I dunno. He must've been about my age now." Yuffie shivered. "I was with Mama... his eyes were... so cold... just empty..."

Vincent closed his garnet eyes, head tilted to the ceiling. When he spoke, his voice was as toneless as she remembered Sephiroth's had been all those years ago. "More sins added to the list... all the destruction, all the misery that could have been prevented..."

"What are you talking about, Vinnie?" Yuffie asked, confused and slightly alarmed. Vincent's eyes slid slowly open, but they were like to stagnant pools. No life flitted beneath the smooth garnet surface.

"...the same Sephiroth could have been taken away from Hojo... from Jenova. He could have been my son." Vincent murmured. Yuffie stared at him as though he were crazy.

"That's impossible!" She declared. "If he hadn't died five years back, Sephiroth would be the same age as you! Round about." She added, not knowing Vincent's exact age.

Vincent stood wearily, swaying a little because of the lack of circulation to his legs. He held up his claw and stared at it balefully. "When Hojo gave me this he... changed me. I do not age as you do." He said it as though it was not quite all. Yuffie stared at him in incomprehension for several seconds. As he walked away, she made a noise in her throat that made him add, "...thirty years, I slept in that mansion... thirty years..."

Yuffie stared after him blankly before her mind slowly started to recognise events. _So he's... what... immortal? Gawds, imagine looking that good forever... what the @#$%?! What am I thinking? Oh, ew, he's like thirty and he's really sixty and I am thinking this why?!_

Noisily she piled the tin and the bowl together and picked up the blankets. Shoving them into the tunnel with her bone club, Yuffie thought she heard something. She paused. Nothing. She got down on her stomach and pushed the wadded blankets down the tunnel before her. They caught on the stone, ripping out threads. Yuffie sighed and tugger at them impatiently. The loud tearing sound in the confined space might have masked the roar had the entire cave not quaked with its fury. Yuffie's heart stopped, then started up again with beats like a hummingbird's wings. Frantically, the teenager pushed at the bundle, trying to make enough room so that she would be safe inside the crawlspace, but only succeeded in further ensnaring them and tangling her club into the mess. Through the stone another roar reverberated, much closer this time. Yuffie could hear the tread of the demon's talonned feet. It was in the main cavern. Panicking, she tried to force her way past the clot of blankets, knowing her legs were still in the open, knowing it was far too late.

She screamed and clawed at the rock tunnel with both hands as she felt the demon seize her legs. Wounds opened in her palms from the sharp rock, but the tunnel afforded her no shelter. She was hauled out of it as though she were no more than a struggling, terrified rabbit. She screamed at the top of her lungs with a volume that nearly drowned out the triumphant blast of Chaos.

It flung her into a wall. She slid to the ground, dazed and bleeding, but still screaming. "VINCENT! VINCENT!" She shrieked, hoping to all the gods she knew that he was coming to help her. She had no weapon but the tiny hunting knife, and with bleeding, ruined hands there was no way she could defeat the demon. "Vincent!" She curled into a ball, clutching her bleeding hands to her chest. _Leviathan, Da Chao, help me..._

Chaos roared, enraged and filled with hunger from the scent of the blood and the weak human female. Promises to the host meant _nothing_ when it was in control. Any human it found was rightful prey. Yet the tiny, frail creature was still sobbing, chanting the name over and over like a mantra.

"Vincent... Vincent... Vincent..."

Her distressed cries meant nothing to Chaos. But they meant something to the host, as did the eyes huge with fear and filled with tears. They mattered not to the demon, but to the host those eyes seared over the wasteland of soul.

"Vincent..."

The call was weaker, more hopeless, as the girl realised that the caped man was not going to save her this time. Chaos swiped at her, throwing her backwards across the cavfe floor. It loomed above her, teeth bared in its horrible, leering snarl.

"...Vincent..."

The eyes closed, accepting defeat, as Chaos felt the warmth gush over its claws. But even as the satisfaction of knowing that a kill was near washed over it, a wall slammed into the brief peace of the beast, battering its will aside. It roared, confused.

_YUFFIE!_

"...Vin... Vincent..." The eyes cracked open once more to see demonic features melt away into pale skin, the wings folding and shrinking away. Only the burning ruby eyes remained the same, and the blood that gushed life over his hands. Chaos had sliced open Yuffie's shoulder. She lay, weakening, on the cold cave floor. For the first time in many years, Vincent Valentine felt. The emotion was fear.

There was fear in the eyes, too, the eyes that saw through him now. The eyes. He had to save the eyes. He had to save the eyes that had called him back, through the power of the demon. Touching the handgun at his waist, he found the Restore materia. He murmured the spell as he cast, willing Yuffie's eyes to stop flickereing so horribly closed. "Cure2. Cure2. Cure2." He was tired, so tired. The demon howled in fury behind its prison walls, sapping his strength as Yuffie was slowly healed. Vincent finally lost the battle with complete exhaustion, toppling into blackness, Yuffie and a puddle of dark blood.

*

Fire. Fire in her arm. Hypersensitive skin made the weight on top of her into tonnes of agonising pressure. She moaned. _Get it off... make the pain stop..._ The weight shifted slightly. It was breathing. _Vincent. It's Vincent._ Relief flooded her veins before Chaos could intervene. _Vincent is Chaos. Chaos. Holy Leviathan... Chaos._ Yuffie froze, hardly daring to breathe. She didn't want to cause Vincent to inadvertantly transform into the demon. Trying to ignore the pain in her shoulder and arm, Yuffie opened her eyes.

Vincent was sprawled across her, crushing her sensitive arm, he head resting on her stomach. The bronze claw pricked her hip with its deadly razor fingers. Vincent shifted again, muttering incoherently. The claw tightened slightly and Yuffie made a nervous sound in her throat. It didn't hurt, but the dread that it would _start_ hurting very soon made her afraid. The sharp pricks she felt through the faded denim of her shorts were completely at odds with the sleeping countenance of Vincent. Though the dream he was having was obviously less than pleasant, his pale features were smooth and calm. The black hair trailed down his pale back - he had not had the chance to don his shirt and cape before the demon had taken over. Yuffie wondered how such an outwardly quiet and - it had to be said - sweet man could become a monster like Chaos. She sighed loudly and sneezed.

Vincent's eyes snapped open, the glowing red flaring dangerously. Yuffie froze, fear rising to choke her. Vincent appeared to recognise her. His human hand, resting on her shoulder, squeezed gently. "...Yuffie. I stopped the demon... I can control it more, now..." His voice was soft and raw, but he seemed pleased by this. He blinked slowly and a tiny smile spread across his lips. "I stopped it from hurting you more."

"Y-Yeah." Yuffie agreed shakily. It was true, after all. She shifted uncomfortably, wincing at the stiffness in her body. Vincent appeared to realise he was using her as a pillow and sat up, blushing slightly, begging her pardon. Yuffie sat up and gasped as she realised she had been lying in a pool of blood. Her own. She slid away, reluctant to put her hands down in the sticky gore, and discovered that her clothes were stained beyond saving with it. She moaned and stood up, moving away. "Oh, grossness..."

Vincent looked down at the dried blood on his hands and sighed. _Grossness indeed. And what must she think of me? My deceit of her has been necessary, but great._

As though to echo his thought, Yuffie spoke. "Why didn't you tell me, Vincent? You told me everything else."

Vincent looked troubled. "..."

"It would have helped." Yuffie murmured disconsolately, rubbing her arms. Vincent was filled with an urge to comfort her, but as he started towards he, hands raised in appeal, she backed away, shaking her head. "Stay back, Vincent. I need space..."

Vincent looked at the new scar across her shoulder, the blood on his hands. His shoulders slumped. "...forgive me... I thought it was for the best." Slowly he backed away from the shaking girl. On the other side of the cavern, he turned and fled into the depths of the cave, leaving a trembling Yuffie all alone.

She sank to the ground, holding back ears of shock. Despite what she had told Vincent, what she felt like right now was a hug. _But not from a demon... oh gawds. I want to go home..._ Home. The Pagoda. Godo. Familiarity. She didn't care if he condemned her for failing Wutai so long as the first thing she got from him was a hug. Shivering convulsively, she got to her feet and began to stagger for the mouth of the cave.

"...you are leaving."

Yuffie let out a squeak and spun around to see Vincent, dressed once more and looking more forlorn and lifeless than she had ever seen him. Almost her resolve broke. Almost she felt for him. Almost. "Y-yes."

Vincent did not waver. "It was a pleasure to have you, Miss Kisaragi." It would be a joke to tell her he looked forward to seeing her again. He told himself he did not. Yet it _had_ been a pleasure. _Never have I felt so accepted than when in the company of one who was so equally alone._ Yuffie nodded, not believing his words. The eyes stirred fear in Vincent again. His human hand began to unbuckle his cloak. "Please," he heard himself ask softly. "...it is a long walk to Wutai." He finished aimlessly, holding out the cloak for her to take. Her fingers shook horribly as she tried to take it from him. Eventually Vincent draped it around her shoulders and buckled it loosely, careful not to touch her.

Yuffie clutched at the cape as others might a security blanket, huddled beneath its scarlet warmth. She walked away, out of the cave. The princess gave no thanks. The beast did not expect any.

*

A/N: *weeps* Arw. Poor Yuffie. Poor Vinnie. Y_Y Last chapter coming up! Short, I know, but... meh. Thankyou for reading. Please review! ^^


	4. Dawn Breaks

Disclaimer: I don't own Yuffie, Vincent, Godo, Chaos, Wutai, or anything else you happen to recognise from _Final Fantasy VII_. I do, however, own this storyline. Don't steal it, or my Author powers will burn you to a crisp. And I am not talking about flaming.

I don't own the song "Best I Ever Had (Grey Sky Morning)" – it's by Vertical Horizon. 'Tis a very nice song, though. ^^

I'm also copyrighting SEFY. (You'll get it once you're done with this chapter. ^^) Because I am lame and pathetic, and Selphie is COOL.

****

GREY SKY MORNING

Dawn Breaks

Godo frowned in his tearoom. Something was not right. It was not the demon, of that he was certain. Whenever it approached there was renewed vigour to the day as people armed themselves or fled to the dubious protection of their houses. Outside there was silence. It was not the peaceful silence with which all creatures greeted the sun's first light but the eerie, disconcerting silence one found in a crypt. Unable to stand the waiting, Godo went outside.

Halfway to the main part of the village, he saw the patch of red. For a moment he feared that Chaos had struck again, but he soon realised that the red was alive and moving, staggering up the road toward him. Behind the painfully weak figure stood a dozen slack-jawed, silent villagers. Godo walked closer, prepared to attack should the need arise, squinting, and his own jaw dropped in recognition.

Yuffie. His daughter. Limping down the road shrouded in a too-big cloak of the Luck Colour, half-dead and staring with cold, blank eyes. She stopped ten feet from him. Godo made the Sign against Evil and took a step forward. "Yuffie?" He asked, not daring to believe.

Her bottom lip trembled as she forced herself closer. "Dad." She all but collapsed into his arms, tears streaming down both their cheeks as they had not since the day Amaya had died. Godo stroked his daughter's hair.

"I had lost you, I had given you up for nothing and you have returned. My brave girl." He muttered as Yuffie sniffled. "Come back home and you can have a nice hot bath and some tea and a nap and tell me all about what happened, eh, Oujo-chan? You come home with Dad."

He supported her all the way back to his Pagoda, encouraging her. She was a fine girl, a strong girl, too strong to have a weak old coot break his back lifting her. She made him proud, yes she did, and her mother, too. When they made it back to Godo's house, Yuffie bathed in steaming rose water and drank hot jasmine tea. She was shivering as though she would never stop, and had only released the tattered red cape while she washed. Now she sat in a clean, soft yukata and she still refused to give it up, hugging it to her as others might a soft toy.

"Oujo-chan, what happened to you? How did you escape from Chaos?" Godo asked, voice low. Yuffie stiffened and she hid her face in the cape, remembering a soft, deep voice.

"Don't say its name…" She whispered. "It makes it stronger. More real. H-he told me – he… uh…" She tried to collect her thoughts. Godo waited patiently.

"It knocked me out when it got me to the cave, up on the other side of Da Chao. When I woke up, Vincent was taking care of me. I thought he'd chased the demon away, but… but he _was_ the demon. He was the demon all along, and after he attacked me he said he could control it a little, but –-" Yuffie paused to yawn hugely. It hadn't happened exactly like that, but she was getting muddled and sleepy from the tea and she could fill him in properly later, couldn't she? Her head sank down onto the arm of the chair, still hugging Vincent's cape to her.

Godo looked at his daughter fondly, but when he rose to speak with the Five Mighty Gods, his eyes were cold and angry. So the monster he had feared was only a man?

Well. Men could be slain.

All too easily.

*

Vincent sat and stared at the cave wall. Again he had lost a companion, again the void in his soul. Last time it had been filled with three terrors, three monsters of the night that hid under the bed that was his fragile consciousness. Always they waited to rise up from the murky shadows to take his body for their own. To the mix, that bastard Hojo had added the demon to sit on his shoulder, to whisper without words in his ear until Vincent was driven nearly insane by the suggestions, the deeds, the nightmares. Sleep was the elusive minx who taunted him from the bed until he tried desperately to sate himself in her arms. Only then would her laughter become cruel and harsh, only then would the damnable whore drown him with evils, anoint him with the thousandfold depth of his sins. Ever to wander, ever to long for shelter, for comfort, for solace.

Never to find it.

They tugged at his mind now, eager to be set free. Vincent clutched at his head in a futile attempt to drive them out. "Be still, be still." He chanted, over and over again. Yuffie had to get away, Yuffie must be safe, Yuffie, Yuffie, Yuffie. Her name bubbled to his lips as Lucrecia's had for years, decades. The creatures within him howled, feeling the walls of their prison weaken. Vincent struggled to maintain them. She had to get away, had to be safe…

How long had it been since she had left? It could have been seconds, it could have been years. He could run outside to find her there still of run outside to find that the entire village had been deserted for decades. He didn't know; it didn't make sense. His breath tore at his throat until he thought it would be so much easier just to stop.

Stop it.

Stop the pain, stop the suffering, stop the miserable, tormented existence of the monster in manflesh.

Stop it all.

__

Lucrecia.

Stop. Don't breathe.

__

Yuffie.

Stop. Don't scream.

The world was darkening around the edges, as though the little light that reached him this deep in the cave was slowly being sucked from him, too. _Yuffie._

Stop. Scream.

The blackness was overthrown, the ululating howl of agony and misery split his lips, the demon raced him to the gate and all he saw was red, red, _red_…

*

Yuffie's sleep had been blessedly free of dreams. She was warm and safe in her bed home in Wutai. Staniv had carried her in, though she hadn't woken up. She was awake now, though; awake enough to hear the silence upon Wutai. She breathed in deeply and sneezed, rubbing her face in the spice-and-musk scent of her pillow. Her hands felt heavy. By touch she found that someone – probably Chekhov – had bandaged them. Rolling over, she held them up to inspect them. Yuffie's nose crinkled at the old blood that had seeped through the bandages. Her hands felt numb and tingly from whatever disgusting miracle-cure Chekhov had used on her. She'd probably end up with black fingers. "Grossness…" Yuffie muttered, turning back to her pillow. She blinked. Her pillow wasn't _red_…

"Vincent's cloak." She confirmed aloud. That was the scent, then, too. She must have really been hanging on to the tattered thing for Chekhov not to have disposed of it. Or at least have it darned and washed. Yuffie grimaced as she stretched. It would have been all scratchy and starchy and smelling of that lavender junk – not Vincent-like at all. Yuffie sat up and fastened it around her shoulders, loath to leave it behind. She giggled at how silly she looked.

Something made her giggles fade faster than they should have. Something beckoned her outside. The eerie silence that had followed her into Wutai had not yet lifted. Yuffie frowned, a little worried. What was up? She heard a roar and knew. Chaos.

She moved toward her door automatically, trying to discern where the demon's attack would be. Her mind fluttered hopefully to Vincent, but despite his words about control, she didn't want to meet Chaos face to face again at all. Another roar. Screams. Yuffie entertained the notion of trying to calm the demon. Her dubious gaze fell upon her Conformer. She let out a cry of delight and fell to her knees beside it. She smiled as she picked it up, feeling its reassuring weight. With this shuriken beside her, she could take on the world. She looked to her door and stood up again. She _had_ been Wutai's plan to get rid of Chaos after all. Yuffie tossed her Conformer in the air, testing it as she always did before she strode out into the empty street. The materia set in the Conformer glistened reassuringly as she stepped out into the light. _I'm going to bring Vincent back._ She thought with a determined smile.

Yuffie heard more shouts and a loud but nonetheless startled roar from Chaos. This was followed by cheering and elated screams as Yuffie passed the Turtle's Paradise. A chill of foreboding tightened the hand that held the Conformer. At Chaos' next, much softer blast, Yuffie broke into a run. She heard the demon's fury and pain in its howls as she crested the small rise that led to the Pagoda of the Five Mighty Gods. Grey eyes widened in shock and shimmered uncertainly as Yuffie watched in dismay.

Chaos was in the centre of the square, held down by chains and ropes. The villagers had rigged a trap for the beast and now it was imprisoned in a web of old rope and fishing nets, thrashing helplessly as determined villagers closed in with weapons of their own. The Five Mighty Gods raised their arms in unison from their posts around the demon. Yuffie saw their mouths move as they cast something that mad Chaos roar and flail in agony and frustration.

"No! No – Vincent! _Stop it!_" The cry made Yuffie look around in surprise as heads turned toward her. She couldn't breathe, and she suddenly realised it was because the voice had been her own. Her legs were pumping as she ran toward the trapped demon. Godo was in front of her, shouting orders, _blocking her way._ People who weren't holding ropes were lining up to stop her from breaking through to Chaos. Yuffie plunged into the crowd, screaming and thrashing as she was held back by her arms. Godo stood before her, rare worry showing in his eyes. He was talking to her, yelling to her, but Yuffie was looking past him into flickering eyes of Chaos.

They burned. They burned with anger, with hatred. They burned with pain. And behind the violence and the blood lust and the outrage, Yuffie found something. It gave her the strength and speed to break out from the full nelson someone held her in. Vincent stared out at her from behind the smouldering flames, and he was sorry. He was sorry for everyone and everything, for the pain he had caused and couldn't feel any more, for standing by and watching. He knew he deserved this, deserved the fear and the pain and death. Yuffie knew he didn't.

She realised all of this in a moment as she vaulted high over the heads of her stunned people. Before Chaos she paused. The demon roared and scrabbled to get at her, but Yuffie saw Vincent fighting it in the frailty of Chaos' movements. She turned to her father, approaching from behind, and held up a hand. "Stay back!" She commanded, grey eyes burning fiercely. To her surprise, he did. Pride shone in his eyes as Godo watched his daughter turn imperiously back to the squalling demon. She truly was destined to be the ruler of Wutai.

Yuffie stood two feet from a monster that could kill her in a heartbeat if it so chose. She kneeled to look at it from a height closer to its own. "Vincent." She said. "Vincent." Gradually, Chaos ceased struggling. It looked at her dolefully and let out a pitiful rumble. Yuffie smiled and moved closer. "Vincent, you told me you could control this now." Chaos rumbled again, reaching out a clawed hand. Instead of flinching away, Yuffie took it carefully in her own. "That's right, Vincent. I trust you. I know you can do this. Come on, Vincent." She coaxed as though he were a small child.

Chaos' eyes flickered. "KISARAGI." It growled out. Yuffie looked surprised, but replied before she thought about it.

"That's right, Vinnie." She murmured, shifting si that she lay the demon's head on her knees. "Let it go." Chaos' eyes closed. Slowly, as Yuffie continued to murmur encouragingly, the demon wings faded, the purple skin became ivory once more. Black hair flowed over her fingers, as soft as silk. Vincent's beautiful garnet eyes opened.

"Yuffie?" He murmured. "You made Chaos go away. You made it… dormant." He pushed himself up with his human arm, wriggling out of the ropes that had cocooned Chaos. Yuffie still held the claw. Vincent stared at her gravely, face to face. "Thankyou. _Thankyou._ I owe… so much." He looked much as though he was trying not to break into hysterical relieved laughter.

Godo cleared his throat. "You do indeed, young man. Wutai is very close to destruction because of your actions."

"_Dad!_" Yuffie protested angrily. She had seen the joy die in Vincent's eyes. She had seen the simple happiness fall back into regret at all he had done, and she was Not Pleased.

"However unwilling a party you may have been to the demon's desires." Godo added reasonably at the look he was receiving from his daughter.

"My most sincere apologies." Vincent responded, climbing slowly to his feet before extending his hand to draw Yuffie to hers. "I believe I may assure you that it will not happen again."

"Good. However, I require that you repay the damage that you dealt to Wutai." Godo told the man frostily. Vincent bowed slightly as Yuffie opened her mouth to give her father what for.

"You have my service for as long as you require it." He promised wearily. "I owe more than I can say to your daughter. It would be an honour to me."

"Yes." Godo didn't sound _all_ displeased. Yuffie glared at him.

"He can stay with me." She told him, scowling when he looked as though he was about to protest. "It isn't like we have an inn. And besides, he said it himself – he owes me." She forced herself to be callous. "And I want a foot rub." Godo sighed and nodded. He waved a hand dismissively. People scattered at the motion. Godo walked back into his Pagoda.

And it was as though nothing had ever happened.

Yuffie helped Vincent back through the village to her house, not bothering to point things out on the way. If Godo was going to make him a slave, he'd get to see the town soon enough, anyway. Yuffie prepared an extra futon near her own and stopped supporting Vincent when she got him there. The ruby-eyed man tried to courteously offer to sleep downstairs. Yuffie fell prey to an inappropriate mental image of Vincent in her cage, and was still sniggering while she made tea. Vincent sat wearily on his futon, watching her as she sat down with her feet on her table. She looked from him to the pot of tea she had thoughtlessly made for herself, then gathered up her things and went to sit beside him on the floor. "I was joking about the foot rub." She told him cheerily. Vincent merely poured his tea and held the pot out inquiringly. "Nope, I don't want any more, thanks Vinnie."

"As you wish." He sipped his tea delicately. "I would be bound to massage your feet, had your statement not been in jest." Yuffie had no idea why in hell he added that on, but it made her blush like crazy, so she coughed and stared down at her cup to avoid his intense stare.

After a while she said, "I'm glad you're here, Vinnie. I would've really missed you if you hadn't come."

"How could I stay away?" Vincent asked rhetorically. "Even Chaos was drawn here."

"Uh… what?"

Vincent cocked his head at her, eyes crinkled in a very human way as he tried to stifle a smile. "I'm not sure." He answered, obviously amused.

"You do too! Tell me, Vinnie!" Yuffie pouted.

She must have transferred her obnoxiousness to him at some point, because he only replied rather evasively. "Vinnie."

"Vinnie Valentine, you so better tell me or else!" Yuffie said, childishly resorting to threats. Vincent's eyes glimmered as he leaned forwards slightly.

"Do you promise to listen?"

The eyes told her to consider her answer very carefully. "I promise, already. Tell, Vinnie!"

Vincent leaned even closer, as though whatever secret he was about to share was too important to allow just anywhere. Yuffie ducked her head forward conspiratorially, turning her head so that his mouth was close to her ear. She waited patiently.

His hand came to rest along her jaw and he turned her face to his own. Yuffie nearly died of shock, delight and shock again as he touched his lips to hers in the most beautiful, sweet, chaste kiss she had ever experienced. She let out a shriek of surprise, and Vincent pulled back hastily, nearly upsetting the teapot. Clumsily, he steadied it, looking ashamed and crushed.

"You must be appalled at my boldness. Please, forgive me, I will go now."

"No you won't." Yuffie decided for him, her fingertips pressed to her lips, eyes wide with shock. "Vincent, what the hell did you do that for?"

Vincent looked pained as he withdrew slowly, but he stopped, resigned to this. _You owe her, Valentine. You said it yourself. The least of what you can give back to her is the truth._ "Because… because I wanted to." Desperately trying to make the statement less selfish, he rushed on with uncharacteristic clumsiness. "You may have been a materia thief, Yuffie Kisaragi, but all you have stolen from me is a heart."

He was disappearing again. He was cloaking himself again in the unbreakable coldness, in the pain and self-loathing. Yuffie couldn't let it happen. She was out of her chair, throwing her arms around his neck. She felt him stiffen in shock, but then his arms were around her, holding her as though she was something precious he had lost and given up hope of finding again. She could hear him whispering into her hair, though she wasn't sure whom the words were directed to. "Thankyou, thankyou, thankyou…"

Then suddenly they were. "Thankyou, Yuffie, thankyou for being… for… for everything you've ever done and will do." The long stream of thanks started again. Yuffie just stood still within the circle of Vincent's arms and smiled into his chest. She loved him, she knew she did. He thought she had healed him. She knew her father would be apoplectic when he found out. She didn't care.

Vincent was utterly exhausted from the transformation, Yuffie from her trek down from the mountain cave and the brief excitement of the day. They were both asleep within minutes.

Needless to say, Vincent Valentine had no more nightmares.

*

A/N: Um. Yes. ^^ I know it was totally random and badly-ended and stuff… but I was feeling inspired and in need of a shameless excuse for a Yuffentine. ^____^ You really can't blame me for things like this! *grin*

Anyways, I just wanted to thank Wyrren for being a wonderful beta reader. And Vincent for being Vincent, because Vincent is _cool_. And to MB20, because I was listening to them while I typed up this chapter. If anyone is looking for songs to listen to, I recommend their "Soul", "Hand Me Down" and "Unwell". That's all from _More Than You Think You Are_, but _Mad Season_ was a fantastic album, too.

Okay, rambling. Please review, because **S**hameless **E**xcuses **F**or **Y**uffentines are fics too! I don't care if you flame. Just please have a reason for it. Or I will hunt you down with your e-mail dusted in cyanide and make you eat it. *cheerful smile* Thanks ever so for reading and putting up with my drivel! ^_____^


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